43 years!

Last week Bob and I celebrated our 43rd anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that many years!  I'm thankful for all those years and the way that Lord has blessed us in them.
We both had the day off so decided to have a fun day together.
We started by stopping in at Andrew and Heathers to check on Connor and drop off a little something for him and Cassie.

He's doing good.  Andrew took this picture later, but when we were there we finally saw his eyes open.

Then we went to Meijer Gardens.  I've shared this place with you before.  Aaron and Laura gave us a membership there, so we can go and wander around whenever we want.  This time we wanted to check out the Japanese Garden section.

As we walked to the Japanese Garden, we got a glimpse of this huge sculpture.  The Meijer Gardens are also known for their sculpture collection.  This particular piece is probably the most famous.  It's 24 feet high!  It was designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1482.  It was for the Duke of Milan and was to be the largest sculpture of it's time.  However, there was a war going on and the bronze that was to be used for the sculpture was repurposed for the war and the sculpture was never made.  However, the plans had been saved and in 1999 a cast was made and 2 sculptures were poured.  One went to Milan, Italy where da Vinci had planned it so many years ago, and one came to Grand Rapids where it was placed in the Meijer Gardens.

This is at the entry of the Japanese Gardens.

They have an area with lots of bonsai trees.

This was my favorite, with a bunch of trees.  It was probably only about one and 1/2 foot tall.

There were lots of winding paths to walk and stone benches if you wanted to rest.

We loved this sign we found in one section.

The Japanese Gardens cover 8 acres with this lake in the center.  The gazebo you see on the left is on an island in the center of the lake with the beautiful footbridge to get to it.

There are several small waterfalls to enjoy.

Here's another view of the bridge from the other side.

There are so many plants and flowers to enjoy while you are walking.  These are Japanese Anemones.

We took a selfie while stopping at one of the benches.

We went for an early supper after that, then went to visit the local Community Fair which is taking place this week.

There were lots of people enjoying themselves.

We didn't go for rides though, we went to see some things in the display barns.  Alaina and Ruby had entered some art work for judging.

It was hard to find their things because everything was just set on tables and some things were behind fencing so people couldn't touch it.  We found some though.  This is a drawing Alaina did.

They also both made stocking caps.  They had several other things I couldn't get photos of but they got A's on all of the things they entered.

After the fair we went home and had a quiet evening.  It was a wonderful day and a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary!